Cloud Strife
"Cloud Strife" redirects here. This article is about the '''Final Fantasy VII' hero. For the Final Fantasy III villain, see Cloud of Darkness.'' An acerbic young swordsman with glowing eyes. Wielding a blade as large as he is, he deals terribly powerful attacks that send foes flying. In the original game, Cloud joined the anti-Shinra group AVALANCHE to fight for the future of the planet. Along the way, he and his companions pursued the legendary SOLDIER member, Sephiroth, who razed Cloud's hometown to the ground many years past. How to Unlock As a hero for Cosmos, Cloud is unlocked from the beginning in all gameplay modes. Appearance Cloud breaks the mold of typical Final Fantasy characters with his appearance being a composite of both Amano and Nomura's concept art. He appears as a young adult with vibrant blue eyes. He wears an altered version of the 1st-Class SOLDIER uniform, having only one pauldron on his shoulder and a different glove on his left hand. Cloud's most defining and easily recognizable trait is his spiky blond hair, when observed carefully, resembles a Chocobo's. He is the first of the protagonists not to wear a cape or any flowing fabric. Alternate Look For 300PP, you can purchase Cloud's alternate look at the PP Catalog. His alternate look is his Advent Children's clothes. Abilities Cloud's combat style is described as Smash & Blow '''(original title) or a '''Buster Basher (US release), consisting of slow, heavy swings with his sword, which deal great damage from short combos that end with a forceful push away into surfaces for additional crash damage. However, his ranged capabilities are highly limited. He also uses his Limit Breaks from Final Fantasy VII as HP attacks, with the exception of Blade Beam and Climhazzard, which are Brave attacks. Unfortunately, his ground speed leaves a lot to be desired, together with his friends, Cecil and Terra. Like Firion, Cecil and Squall, he also has slow HP attacks, which leave him open to punishment if he misses. Thus, Cloud is more suited to a 'counter-attack' style of play, to let his opponent attack first before he goes in for an attack. He has extremely powerful but incrediby slow attacks, making him easy to predict and punish. But his excellent EX Mode bonuses and BP->HP chains compensate offensively. Brave Attacks HP Attacks Ex-Mode Ultima Weapon - The Buster Sword changes into the Ultima Weapon. Cloud's Ultima Weapon features a translucent blade that radiates with power. In the original game, the blade's brightness correlates to Cloud's current HP. The power of mako! - '''(English version, alternate costume only) The main blade of the Fusion Swords changes into its completed assembly form. Ex-Burst 超究武神覇斬/Omnislash : - Rapidly jam the '''O button to fill the limit gauge and unleash a full Limit Break, it allows Cloud to bombard opponents with 14 sword slashes leading up to a stronger 15th slash. Failing to fill the limit gauge will have Cloud flourishing his sword and hitting the enemy up to a maximum of 3 times depending on how much you filled the limit gauge and ending it with a slash from a distance. Not even filling it once will simply end in a mighty slash. Ex-Bonus *'Regen' - HP slowly regenerates over time *'Ultima Weapon/First Tsurugi (CRUSH)' - All attacks Guard Crush and deal greater damage as a combo moves on. *'Ultima Weapon/First Tsurugi (ATK)' - The more HP Cloud has, the greater attack power boost he receives Equipment Cloud wields Swords and Giant Swords as weapons, and for protection he wears Light Armor, Bracelets, Shields, Helmets and Hats. Exclusive Weapons Allusions *Cloud declares "Give me strength!" when entering ExMode, this may be a nod to Sora from the Kingdom Hearts series, who states such lines at times when performing certain skills, most noticable is when Sora uses his forms in Kingdom Hearts 2 where he declares "Light, give me strength!". *At the start of Cloud and Sephiroth battle in Destiny Odyssey VII, the camera performs the same close ups seen at the final battle between the two in Final Fantasy VII, as well as in Advent Children. *The complete set Allure of Honey includes 4 of the 10 items that Cloud needs in Final Fantasy VII, so that Don Corneo will pick him in the Wall Market. *Tidus once states that Cloud picks his battles carefully as his swords looks heavy, while the latter states its not heavy, that he has it as a memento, a reference to http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Zack_FairZack who passed on his beliefs in the sword to Cloud as once Zack's deceased mentor and friend Angeal did the same to him. Trivia *Cloud, at twenty-one years of age, is presumably the oldest current Warrior of Cosmos, though the Warrior of Light - who has no explicit age - may be older than he is, and previous warriors Jecht, Golbez and Shantotto were older when they aided Cosmos. *Cloud is the only character that has a different weapon for each form and outfit: he uses the Buster Sword and Ultima Weapon for his normal form and EX Mode, and the First Tsurugi and the completed fusion sword assembly for his alternate form and its EX Mode. *Cloud and Squall are the only two heroes to openly challenge another hero in their story, for good reason. Cloud fights to see the strength in Firion's dream. *If you look closely at Cloud's Buster Sword, you can clearly see that it has no lines/indentations running across the blade as it was seen in Crisis Core and Advent Children. Also, the dragon-like pattern of the Crisis Core/ Advent Children incarnation is not seen. It looks exactly like the original Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII. *Cloud is storylinewise the second character to gain his crystal according to Destiny Odyssey 38. *According to Cloud and Terra's biodata, they are of the same height, at 5'7", but Cloud appears to be taller than Terra in some cutscenes. The reason is, in JP edition, Terra's official height is 160 cm, which is about 5'2''.'' *Cloud is the only character to learn all three levels of a spell - in this case, Fire, Fira, and Firaga. However, in Final Fantasy VII, Cloud debuted without the Fire Materia; he instead began with the Thunder and Ice Materia. Also, the Fire-based spells that Cloud uses aren't based on the ones from Final Fantasy VII, rather, they are equivalent to the spells from Crisis Core. This is becase the spell names were retconned. *Cloud is the only character who is allied with two groups of heroes; he is first allied with Firion, Cecil, and Tidus, then goes on his own to defeat Sephiroth, later joins up with Terra and the Onion Knight, and then goes back to his original group. *Cloud, Terra, Squall, and the Onion Knight are the only ones who fight an ally (as opposed to another villain) as a midboss. *While performing his EX Burst, Cloud declares he's "breaking his limits," a clear reference to the use of his Limit Break. *Cloud is the only hero who doesn't fight another villain other than his own in his storyline. *Cloud is the only hero to actually question why he is fighting. *Cloud's final weapon "Fenrir," is a reference to his Motorbike from Advent Children. The name first appeared in Dirge of Cerberus when Cloud talks to the bike before going to fight Deepground with Vincent Valentine and the rest of the original cast. There is a similarly named weapon in Kingdom Hearts II *Cloud's Idle pose and running animation, as well as several of his attacks are all similar to Zack Fair in Crisis Core. *Cloud's victory quote "I won't sleep well tonight," is a homage to Crisis Core and Zack Fair, who has a similar line during the Wutai portion of the storyline. *Both Cloud and Sephiroth's quotes during the Cutscene before the final battle are extremely similar to their quotes during the final battle in Advent Children. Costumes See also Category:Character Category:Character